Simple tilt and height location monitoring of wafers

Abstract

Good alignment is needed in various wafer processes. Reflectometry is a well-established technique that continues to be widely used to monitor the thickness of wafer thin films. The use of a reflectometer was investigated to detect incorrect tilt and height of wafer placement. We found that it could be used in the spectroscopic or the monochromatic mode and provided results whether the wafer was bare or coated. We also found that the technique was somewhat more sensitive to tilt of bare wafers, and more sensitive to height displacements of coated wafers.